Why is Holocaust Denial relatively common?

Answer 1

The reason that Holocaust Denial is common is that it is ideologically motivated, not motivated by the facts. There is more information, data, documents, eyewitness testimony, physical evidence, etc. on the Holocaust than practically any other event of similar magnitude. There are more documents attesting to the Holocaust than documents that exist attesting to the existence of Napoleon (never mind the various things he is known to have done). This sound outrageous, but consider for a moment the number of memoranda that 20th century governments produce at all levels compared to the much smaller bureaucracies in the 19th century. If people had a serious wish to engage in "Napoleon Denial", it would be correspondingly easier since there is less evidence to overthrow the correct historical perspective that Napoleon lived.

The ideological underpinnings for Holocaust Denial come from several major sources. Among them are:

• Anti-Semitism: People who hate Jews would prefer to minimize the suffering they underwent so as to minimize any sympathy or remorse that might be due to them. This also falls in the "Jewish Conspiracies" allegation that Jews are trying to control the world and/or the Nazi actions against Jews were part of a legitimate power struggle in Germany as opposed to outright slaughter.
  
• Anti-Zionism: There is a significant part of the population of Holocaust Deniers who oppose the existence of the State of Israel and see the Holocaust as a but for cause of the state's existence. In their minds, if the Holocaust did not happen, then the creation of Israel is an obvious error that should be rectified. This is especially common in the Islamic World.
  
• White Supremacy: White Supremacists usually idolize Hitler and the Nazis for their desire to racially cleanse Europe. As a result, they oppose his vilification, which can naturally be attributed to a genocidal dictator.
• Anti-Israel Support Groups: This is only slightly different from the Anti-Zionists and these groups often overlap. Many countries have strong financial, trade, AID, or reparation programs with Israel. For example, the German government has to provide millions of euros of machinery to Israel on a regular basis as reparations for the war. The United States gives Israel more AID than any other single nation. These groups wish to minimize these payments and see Holocaust Denial as an effective method to argue that the Jews are not in a position warranting such support. However, in contrast to the Anti-Zionists, they do not necessarily believe that Israel should not exist, but that it should be financially isolated.
• Foreign Complicity: Teaching of the Holocaust in Europe usually includes mention that there was significant collaboration between Europeans and Germans in the Holocaust. Croatia and Romania even had their own mini-Holocausts in parallel with the Nazi one. However, due to the strong sentiments of nationalism in these countries, as a result of the fight against Communism, the teaching of the complicity angers them and as a result, they would seek to minimize their involvement. These individuals claim that it was exclusively a German activity and disclaim responsibility, so many of these "side-massacres" are Denied.
  

Answer 2

Actually, it's not very common. But it is certainly entrenched among certain small groups of people. Keep in mind that the media tend to report on the extremes, because that gets readers or viewers or listeners talking, often to express outrage. But the extremes are actually a small (but noisy) percentage. In the United States, only a few fringe white supremacists and the occasional anti-Semite insist the Holocaust never happened. In Europe, the deniers are generally members of right-wing nationalist parties, some identified with conservative Christianity but others not. But these days, it's Muslim countries that have the largest number of Holocaust deniers, since many text-books teach hatred of "the Jews" and conflate Judaism with the political policies of Israel. But overall, the majority of people, especially educated people in western countries (US, Canada, England, France, Germany, etc) know that the Holocaust did take place and they know the entire story, which is taught in most schools.

Answer 3

it is not common, all intelligent people know this to be true because of the evidence,so people who deny this are uninformed and biased.